#indie (Independent) Blog Hop!

Seems like I'm gonna get in on this one! Via: All Indie E-Books Post . First "Blog Hop" I've ever attempted, so lets see how it goes! Seems like a great idea to get the word out and support some independent authors!

Update: 3/30/12 I seem to be linking to all kinds of cool blogs on the list. Thanks to everyone getting in on this! Let's keep this going..

Author Of Books

This is the problem that I seem to be "stuck" at, author of books. But the good ones "authors - writers", how can I filter out the good ones and pass that along to other potential readers that may have otherwise never heard of a particular  new author, like an independant "indie" author?

One method I was trying out is, putting some indie authors that had good backgrounds and writing styles to them, that I had liked, on the blog here as like an "Author Spot-Light" thing, but then I'm wondering to myself if this is worth the effort? It's like yelling into an empty room if there is no one there, how is any one going to get the information?

I'm no author myself by any means, but I like to support the indie cause and try to buy a book from one every few days, as I converse with some writers you begin to see what a process it is to try and self publish your work and then to promote, Etc., afterwards all while trying to think of the next novel or whatever you may write!

I would like to continue to do what I currently am, and support great independent authors!

I would also like to see how much traction this blog can pick up and take it from there.

I would appreciate any feedback anybody can give to this idea, rather you are an author, aspiring writer, reader, reviewer, whatever just let me know what you may like to see set up on the blog to help bring all this together, Thanks very much.

Ready Boost For Windows 7

Perhaps you will have an easy way to speed up your laggy windows Vista or 7, that doesn't happen to have much memory built in, on the cheap!

Windows 7 supports Windows Ready Boost. which uses external USB flash drives as a hard disk cache this improves disk read performance. Thumb drives, SD cards work good but will not support this if the primary disk is an "SSD" Solid State Drive, there will be no significant benefits.

The best way to test to see if your flash drive will work as Ready boost is to test it! Windows Vista and Windows 7, when you insert the removable media right click on the media when it shows up, and select use as Ready Boost, the system will tell you if it is fast enough to run as ready boost. Usually if it is a fast memory card like one for a digital camera, or such that works best, like a "class 4" or higher should be just fine to notice a significant speed gain!

And Remember now a lot of packages are coming with the product saying "Windows Ready Boost" compatible!

How To Self Publish A Book

Preparing your self-published book? Here are five key points that are important for your success in this project. When you make simple mistakes or leave simple things out the result will seriously kill your success opportunity, specially when you are learning how to self publish a book.
Here are five important errors you must root out.

 1. Poor writing quality

It is easy to make errors with spelling, punctuation, typography and your use of English, specially when the subject is exciting for you. For example, the initial pages of your book should contain certain information such as the title, author, copyright, dates of publication, ISBN and other material. The format of this is quite easy to see from many books that you read. Getting this right shows that you have prepared a professional publication and one that will b emuch better respected. If you are uncertain anything about this layout and its information then consult a professional editor, it is well worth it.


2. Book Structure

Practically every publication is organized by Chapters, and that's what your readers will expect - do not disappoint them. Technical, informational or instruction books will benefit form a more detailed breakdown into sections or sub-chapters. If you do not provide a recognizable structure your reader will find the book too difficult to read and so will not recommend this to others.

Author Talk "Spot light" 2

Here's another example of a great independent author that deserves to be in the spot-light! This is quite interesting Clive S. Johnson has one vast background to stand on. Clive has knowledge in the IT field and the corporate positions. He's done great things in the print industry & now spends his time writing, and he does that very well. Have a check at his book and see what you think.  Amazon

EBooks:A Writers Friend or Enemy?

Publishing is a $35 billion industry. Up until just a few years ago, that meant almost exclusively books, magazines, newspapers, and other small items such as brochures and business cards. The internet has changed all that in more ways than one. Enter the eBook, or downloadable electronic book. Although early versions of the eBook have been around since the 1970’s, it wasn’t until late in 2007 that Amazon’s eBook Reader, the Kindle, was released, and not until 2009 that dedicated reading hardware was produced. According to the Association of American Publishers, eBook sales rose 176.6% to $169.5 million in 2009. Another report, this one conducted by Forrester Research, an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology, predicts that eBook sales will cross the $1 billion line in 2011.

Finding a publisher who is willing to invest their time and money to print thousands of copies of a book written by an unknown author is extremely difficult, to say the least. However, with services such as Amazon.com and Smashwords.com, an unknown author can publish a completed novel, poetry manuscript, or collection of short stories and make it available for sale to basically anyone with internet access in a single day. And the best part is that It’s Free! There are, of course, many more online publishers than just Amazon and Smashwords but many of them are not free.

How to Fix Your PC

How to fix your PC (Personal Computer), can be one of the easiest tasks to complete nowadays. Thanks to a good search engine, you could basically type into the search engine the symptoms your having with the computer and with in seconds ideas will come flooding in! But if you do get stuck on a tricky problem there are always forums and friends out there that will be more than happy to help!

What is that, she said? An #indie author you know right?

What is that, she said? It's an indie (Independent) author I was reading about. Ohh, ok my Mom said, I didnt know what you meant by an indie author she had added. As I explained what little I know of the process to her she seemed quite surprised that practically anyone who has a writer / author ambition can have a book writtten and published out to a well known source such as Amazon and profit themselves off of that self created material, that otherwise would have to be submitted to a publishing powerhouse to review and be rejected without anyone ever seeing the material, which could have been great!

Now with the rise of the independent authoring going on, I'm coming across all genres of authors and material, it is quite amazing! When I used to think of horror books for instance I would have one well known author always pop into my mind, now I have several more that come first. And the same goes for other genres with the authors as well!

Now this got me thinking about that question that my mom had asked me, what was an indie author? I had thought to my self why would she not know what an independent author was? Then it hit me, I really didn't even know of these authors till it got passed on to me through word of mouth from friends!

Author Talk "Spot light"

Spot Light is on Benjamin X. Wretlind this time!

Here is an author which I can appreciate, Ben from what I have read on his sites is sort of a 'Jack of all trades" if you will. He seemed to dabble in a little of everything from a fry cook, meteorologist to a room service attendant and everything in-between.

Now Ben is writing books and darn good ones at that! Benjamin on Amazon , Engaged and raising 5 kids

I wanted to put Ben in the spotlight this time around because of inspiration to me, and perhaps others. This kind of story just goes to show you that you can do whatever needs to be done & still accomplish your true passion, which for Ben is obviously writing, just take a look at his books hes already written, published and are now for sell on Amazon and elsewhere perhaps. I would personally like to say thanks Benjamin!

Benjamin X. wretlind, you've been Spot Lighted.

This Week's Top Downloads

This Week's Top Downloads:

'via blog this'

Top 10 Ways to Make the Best of an Old, Crappy Computer

Top 10 Ways to Make the Best of an Old, Crappy Computer:

'via Blog this'

Time Management Strategies

First thing to do is Prioritize your work.

Start each day by ranking the things that you much do. Starting with the most important and unpleasant tasks first, then go from there. Those things that can wait for later that day should be listed towards the bottom of your list. Don't make your list too long because there are only so many hours in a day and you don't want to feel like you will never get it all accomplished.

Second thing is to Assign Work Time Frame for each task.

At first this might not seem realistic but it is mostly so that you will have some sort of idea how long it will take to finish each task. You will find that once you start a task, it won't really take very long unless it is a big project. If so, then break it down so that you can see some progress. 

Fix Computer Problems With Remote Technical support

Computer and Internet technology is a real blessing which has given direction and support to the modern world. It has so much intermingled with the profession and personal lives of people that it’s difficult to imagine a day without it. It has touched every corner of life and people from all walks of lives are using this. One should be highly grateful to the enterprising efforts of scientists and developers who are consistently involved in the business for a better tomorrow. However, problems and obstacles have never remained an exception. But certainly these are challenges which provoke towards development and invention.

Computer Support is used in a broad sense and it encompasses support for every computer related issues which one might face in his life. Operating system, application software, router, printer and other program or devices are widely used with computer. A problem with any of these is inevitable. Again, there are brands and their respective models or software versions as well, so the term computer support gets segregated again accordingly. Microsoft Windows NT, Apple Mac, Linux, UNIX are the commonly known operating systems. Likewise, application software and security software are too available from various brands. This software are regularly updated or revised by the developers to induce better technologies and features.

Becoming A Computer Technician / Tips to Get started

If you have a natural affinity for computers, and you enjoy working with machines, then one of the most rewarding and enjoyable jobs that you might want to look at is that of becoming a computer technician.

Among the benefits of becoming a computer technician is that it is a very varied and interesting profession, in which you can choose from a number of different ways to progress, and also choose whether you would like to be self-employed and running your own business, or you can work for an employer and follow a more structured employment path. 

One of the routes into the work of a computer technician in recent years has been to study a course in computer building or repair that will give you a good foundation of knowledge about how computers are constructed, and how the various parts within the computer work together and complement each other.

Birthday E-Cards "The Hassle free way to say your greetings"

One of the most popular types of greeting card is birthday cards. As a matter of fact, there are about thousands of cards being mailed daily.

Traditional types of birthday cards have become expensive to mail. The price of cards is ranging from 4 to 10 dollars depending on the manufacturer. In addition to this, the sender also needs to shoulder the varying cost of the mailing services.

Forget About Those Expensive OEM Ink Cartridges

With the increase in the usage of printers in businesses and office, demand for printer ink cartridges has gone up as well. At the same time, quality of the pages and the ink cartridges has become the essential factors in printing the pages. Many a times, people lookout for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ink cartridges whenever their printers fall short of ink. Why throw money down the drain, when you can buy cheap printer ink cartridges. When you go for the OEM ink cartridges, you are likely to spend huge amount of money on the printing needs. They will end up increasing your overall stationery costs.

Amazon Kindle Touch (Review)

Cheaper than Paper - When you consider that Kindle-edition books are often the least expensive format on Amazon, even for new releases, if you read regularly it's a no-brainer. But that's the simple math. There are lots of low cost or free books available. And most impressive is the new Prime Lending program. With a Prime membership, one can borrow relatively new best sellers for free (up to 1 per month). Figuring one does this six times a year at $9.99 each, that alone covers the cost of the device over a 2-3 year life. Throw in library borrowing, which varies by area but is fairly broadly available, plus friend book lending for up to 14 days, and there are even more cost saving options.

Convenience - When traveling with paper books, I always fretting bringing along a book I was close to finishing as then I would need a second as well. With the Kindle, I always have all my books in one place. I also find myself reading in places I otherwise wouldn't: At doctor appointments, having my car serviced, waiting in the car for someone. The Kindle is so easy to bring with me that I nearly always have it.

Using a Proxy to Access Any WebSite from school or work

Many school classrooms primarily use computers and the �net to gather and save information.  More and more colleges are offering entire learning environments via a web-based medium where no physical classroom is even necessary.  Employers are also following suite and using the Internet as a mass communication tool for employers to interact electronically with one another with little cost.  With this significant increase in the �net�s usefulness, there has come about stronger laws governing exactly what content is distributed.

Scan and Fix Registry with Registry Cleaner

Whenever you use your PC, it either reads or inserts entry onto a particular spot in its system. Overtime, this process can accumulate and cause some problems which are hard to ignore. It's because of this why you regularly have to scan and fix registry of your PC using related cleaner software. Continue reading to learn more about this. I will also be discussing a top quality registry cleaner software that speed up my PC quickly. 


The computer has to remember a lot of things - hardware attached, selected system options, applications around, etc. Each time you use it, it has to go through all of these entries. However, there may also be invalid, missing or double entries. Such can be caused by anything from removing a hardware previously attached, to deleting a file or program. 


When such happens, you will notice that the PC will begin to work a lot slower than before. Although it goes through all these entries in a very fast manner, still it may take some time if there's too much to read. Eventually, you will also notice certain programs will refuse to run, and system crashes will surface more frequently. 

My Roku2 XS Experience

And off I went with my new Best-buy gift card in hand to the store! The new Roku's have been on my mind for awhile now, so with that said you can see what I had purchased.
Brought the unit back home, took it out of the box and was surprised at the size "Very small footprint", so I continue on and learn it comes with a composite cord which is great for if you have an older TV with just the older "Yellow-Video, Red-audio, White-audio" like most hotels still use this hooks right up. But for the better quality just pick up a decent hdmi cable and your good to hook into that high-def port and get watching.
I do have to say this was an excellent experience all around from just hooking it to the television to picking up my wifi signal. and from what I'm reading around the web there is plenty of private channels and all sorts of goodies being added all the time. So far very happy with this.

The Help to Quit Smoking

Some people look at this as a huge obstacle to overcome, I mean lets face it how many gadgets or tricks have you heard of or possibly tried yourself? Well I"m willing to tell you of my journey to kick the habit once and for all, this has worked for me for several months now. And there has been at least 5 family members, several friends I have also helped to kick the cigs!